Ivory Coast

This week, former Ivory Coast ruler Laurent Gbagbo was extradited
to the Hague to account for alleged human rights violations
before the International Criminal Court. Justice appears to be slower in coming
to rival fighters loyal to current President Alassane Ouattara. According to CPJ
research, Ouattara's forces have been involved in the deaths of two journalists,
most recently Gilles Tutsi Murris Dabé.

Dabé, 39, a presenter with private Radio Nostalgie, was killed by a stray bullet
around midnight on November 20, after fighters from the pro-Ouattara Republican
Forces of the Ivory Coast (known by the French acronym FRCI) opened fire at a
car at a checkpoint near the president's private residence, according to news
reports and local journalists. The fighters opened fire after the driver
refused to stop, witnesses told CPJ.

Reporting on the power
struggle in Ivory Coast is increasingly perilous, with journalists facing a
climate of threats, intimidation, and attacks that has forced many to choose
between adopting partisan coverage or fleeing to safety. "Here, we are in a
situation where if you are not with one camp, then you are against them. You
must show you are partisan," reporter Stéphane
Goué told CPJ today.

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In Ivory Coast, the tense post-election dispute between incumbent President Laurent
Gbagbo and rival and self-proclaimed president-elect Alassane Ouattara is a
power struggle for control of national institutions--including the sole statemediaoutlet, Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI).

One out of 10 delegates participating this week in U.S. President Barack Obama's Young African Leaders Forum was a journalist. The forum, a U.S. initiative meant to spark discussions on the future of Africa in a year when 17 countries on the continent are celebrating 50 years of nationhood, did not overlook freedom of the press, as I witnessed in its final event on Thursday at Washington's museum of news, the Newseum.

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Independence came when I was attending school
at the orientation college in Abidjan-Plateau, and when I was still sneaking to
listen to the news on my father’s Grundig radio set. Today, I believe that genuine
freedom of the press exists in our African countries. In Ivory Coast, for
example, the new press law abolished prison sentence for press offenses.

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WikiLeaks’
publication of tens of thousands of pages of confidential U.S. military documents on the Afghanistan war has
drawn a lot of attention, perhaps overshadowing the many, more common cases
around the world in which journalists publish stories based on leaked documents.
This week, for instance, three journalists in Ivory Coast were found
guilty of disclosing
confidential
judicial information after they published a story that shook the political
establishment in this West African nation.

CPJ has joined with African press freedom groups to urge African leaders to end repression of the media as they celebrate 50 years since the end of colonial rule. We will publish a series of blogs this week by African journalists reflecting on the checkered history of press freedom over that period.

This year is the 50th anniversary of independence for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa from colonial powers France and Belgium. To mark the event, French President Nicholas Sarkozy has invited African leaders to Paris for the July 14Bastille Day celebrations. One thing that hasn’t changed much in the last half a century is that the presidents and prime ministers on the Champs Elysees reviewing stand can rest assured that media back home will dutifully report on their speeches and appearances.